The fatality of ignoring our night-watchers!!

As I made my way amidst the hills of Yumthang valley and the other picturesque sites of Sikkim, I realised that the much anticipated trip was turning out to be little dangerous and lesser on the sight-seeing part. All owing to the narrow frozen roads amidst the hills, the pathways which could make anybody lose the lives of those who tread on it by a mere slip of the grip of the gear.

While I tried to keep myself calm by taking Allah's name all throughout the life-taking journey, I realised that even if we all transformed ourselves to the most adventurous and risk taking individuals, we wouldn't have dared to go beyond a point. And when we reach that point, we notice huge trucks and jeeps carrying the daily necessities of the armymen. And then I sit and realise why am i even scared. There are our night-watchers who valiantly and smoothly go travel all across these narrow life-taking roads just to save our lives. Living in bunkers in areas with the rarest of life to be seen. No electricity, no water, no food and all of it in temperatures which keep me clothed in minimum 4 layers of woolens.

Is that a life we all grow up thinking we would want someday? A life of not taking showers regularly, a life of living in negative temperatures, a life of living in closed spaces, a life of living away from your close and dear ones, a life which you know might end anytime any moment. And what do they get? What is it that keeps them driving? When I as a normal human was waiting for the trip to the hills to get over so that I am done living amidst the ruthless cold no matter how pleasing the snow-covered hills might have been, these night-watchers have made it their rozi-roti.

And when you read an article after coming back, that the wages of the night-watchers of India's borders have not been deservingly laid out, the incentives have been drstically reduced and all of this, infact, fails to be noticed amidst all the hullaballoo of the AAP and Congress and BJP making scathing attacks on each other and all the news channel getting the necessary TRP out of it. The article left me with the thought- where has our Indianhood been lost amidst all these. Why do we run after things which are in the moment and not care about things which require more attention. As Indians we get affected by seeing movies made of war and borders and armymen, but the impression is just to make the movie-makers earn their hard-earned money. Why cant we actually bother to cause to make things easier for our night-watchers who are there on their own- and yes all on their own. A mere trip was sufficient to make me realise what keeps us safe through the night, as our night watchers guard us amidst the terrible and most terrible of livelihoods.

At this point, we indeed have to understand that a Government doesn't become a common man's Govt until it caters to the most unnoticed and yet the most severest of issues. A leader can't be crowned a king just by making his followers rebel against the tenets of dictatorship but by bringing to light the most unnoticed things which have the maximum lives of our citizens at stake. Time to arise, time to get enlightened, time to make our night-watchers get the maximum out of their duties and make them earn more not in money but in pride.